Four key factors to building a winning brand

Everything has a brand. The products you buy, the businesses you patronize, the celebrities and influencers you follow. It’s much more than a logo or name. Each brand evokes emotions, experiences, qualities. But what gives them their meaning? And why do some brands seem to stand the test of time, while others fizzle out?

In a recent workshop sponsored by the Weiss Center, Real Chemistry’s Paulo Simas and Howie Chan provided an interactive crash course for Syracuse University students on building healthy brands.

• PEOPLE: Through data and analytics, we can uncover critical insights around what makes people ‘tick’—their values, personalities, lifestyles and attitudes—known as psychographics. Combined with socialgraphics (people’s online and social media behaviors) and traditional demographic characteristics (such as age, location, gender, occupation), psychographics can yield powerful information about people’s motivations. These insights allow businesses and brand strategists to understand why people are likely to buy or engage, and then shape their branding around these factors.

• POSITIONING: This is about how a brand fits in among its set of competitors and peers. Determining a brand’s positioning starts with mapping out its rational and emotional appeal along with key attributes and proof points. Successful brands often identify and lean into an ownable, unique space among the competition.

• PLANNING: Determining the right content and channels is the next step. In today’s multimedia environment, brand strategists need to determine where, when and how a brand will show up in the world, and create a thoughtful content strategy. Done well, this planning helps move customers through the marketing ‘funnel,’ from awareness, to consideration, to conversion and, finally, loyalty and advocacy.

• PERFORMANCE: The effort doesn’t stop here. It requires consistent measurement, analysis and optimization to ensure that marketing and communications strategies translate to brand relevance, meaning whether your stakeholders actually believe in and engage with your brand. This is where data, analytics and business intelligence are essential.

A big thank you to Howie and Paulo for sharing your creative wisdom with the next generation of brand strategists, communicators and business leaders.